Children wear t-shirts of Barcelona soccer player Lionel Messi next to their parents at Barceloneta beach in Barcelona, Spain, July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
MADRID: Spain's two-week coronavirus contagion rate rose to 537 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Friday, according to health ministry data, as the country struggled to cope with a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Tourist magnet Catalonia has been the hardest hit, with the 14-day contagion rate rising to 1,160 cases per 100,000 people, according to health ministry data.
In early June, authorities in Spain were breathing a sigh of relief at having brought COVID-19 cases down to a trickle.
However, by mid-July regions like Catalonia have imposed curfews and other restrictions as the nation scrambled to control the outbreak.
Epidemiologists blame a rush to resume international tourism and heightened socialising among unvaccinated youngsters, as the end of the school year coincided with the appearance of the now-dominant Delta variant.
In Spain, 4,100,222 people have tested positive for coronavirus while 81,096 have died since the start of the pandemic, according to health ministry data on Friday.
